Candiru: I agree with your view on MN being too soft on crime especially repeat offenders. The catch 22 is the state/counties say the cells are full and they have to let someone go early to make room for the next guy. If they build more facilities, taxes go up and no one wants to pay more taxes. They can't overcrowd a cell (thanks ALCU) because that would violate the inmates rights. Social workers like things as they are because they think inmates are being reformed and not punished (Ha). I like the idea of road gangs but again the state/county will have to raise taxes to hire on-site supervision whereas a few jailers can control dozens of inmates housed inside. MN could use a few Joe Arpio(sp) style sheriffs who dress them in pink underwear and work 'em in public so everyone can see them. House 'em in tents on the edge of a swamp so they can stay busy hitting bugs instead of each other. If they've been good all day give 'em a shot of bug spray at dusk. When it's too cold give 'em long underwear and mittens. When it's too hot give 'em a small pink hankie to wipe the sweat off. If they're good all week let 'em watch cartoons on Sunday afternoon instead of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL or ESPN. When they are released they should each be given a library card. (This is the reform)

BobT...the training instills deeply into you (at least my instructor did) on being very mindful as to where/when to carry. This also includes being mindful and aware of the surroundings should the time come, god forbid, to "let the lead fly".

jparrucci...another well said!!!

Maybe it's time again to contact our state reps and senators and make it be known that we are sick these acts going so lightly punished in the state of MN.

I do not recall taxpayers ever complaining about add'l money (taxes) being spent on more prison space. I could be wrong but I do not recall it.

I wonder if it was my post that initiated the idea that some of us were more, uh, "liberal" about this stuff. I prefer pragmatic.

Lets be clear. I possess a carry permit. Big safe full of guns. Been in far to many fights in my life, having grown up on the south side of Chicago (Evergreen Park fwiw). Won some, lost some.
I know for sure that the best option is avoidance when it comes to conflict.

Will I stand up for my fellow man? I won't blow my own horn. If you know me, you know the kind of man I am. I am a father first, and I'd make a really crappy one from behind bars. My son is being taught that when out of options, to deck the bully and pay the "Zero Tolerance In School" price later (and enjoy the nice dinner I'll be buying him). But I've seen how unpredictable situations like the Valley Fair beating can get. Especially at midnight in a place that is gaining a reputation for having a good sized population of gangbangers.

Do I try to make the world around me a better place? You bet. But my first responsibility is to my family.

Is there anything I can say or do in the moment to the Devondre Evans-Lewis' of the world that is going to improve the world around me (short of killing him)? Of course not.

Would I have helped the man being beaten? We all like to say we would, but we never know. People who acted heroically say they never thought they would have, and many a brave man has acted like a coward when push came to shove.

I'm going to be a brave man and raise my kid to be the best they can be, and it's a full time job I have to be available for at all times. If I'm out of options, Derry is dead, but then I'm in jail (yes, that is exclusively the fault of the crazy liberal court system, just like it is that these guys are on the street to begin with).

Why didn't Derry's grandma slap the snot out of his momma for raising such a loser? Can't they all just go to jail for a long, long time?

How much you want to bet that "Dad" has no part in any one of those guys' life.

If you want to look at the root of the problem......there ya go.

Agreed, it starts at home. It's a crock that Dad's leave. I don't know a few single Mom's that have no Father Figure for their kids, but their teens are nothing like that.

Would be nice when I show up to vote in November, that the listing behind the candidate would not read far left, far right, or no chance. Instead it would read; far left, far right, or thinks like jparrucci.

I disagree. WE CAN NOT BOYCOTT VALLEY FAIR!, WE CAN NOT BOYCOTT THE TASTE OF MINNESOTA!
We need to make a presence at these places, US, the GOOD, the STRONG. If we don't go there and put a stop to this senseless violence, they WILL over run us. AMERICA is a place of FREEDOM, but sometime freedom comes with sacrifice. SACRIFICE IS NOT JUST FOR THE MILITARY! WE ARE THE CITIZENS, WE ARE THE GOOD PEOPLE, AND BY BOYCOTTING THE THINGS THAT ARE THERE FOR US TO ENJOY, ONLY LEAVES THOSE THINGS TO THE WICKED.
We can not be weak, we need a presence in these places. Not a police state, not more of a police presence, WE NEED TO BE THERE. WE NEED TO BE THERE IN HIGH NUMBERS. We can not just go to some website and complain about how someone else should be cleaning up America! Valley Fair IS America, The Taste of Minnesota IS Minnesota! It is up to us to pour the tea in to the harbor, it is up to US to make a presence in these places and scare these thugs in to reconcidering their actions. It is up to us to help each other by being there and not allowing this violence. I get so sick of people complaining that its everone elses problem, or fault, and changing what they do out of fear. That is not what the UNITED STATES of AMERICA started out as. If we can't be strong, then the bad will feed on our weekness, and that is EXACTLY what is happening. DO NOT BOYCOTT THE THINGS THAT ARE THERE FOR US TO ENJOY. Enjoy them, and support this man for doing the right thing. This man and his family need our support. Valley Fair needs our support. The taste needs our presence, and when GOOD people say they are not going to go, then who are the people that go; and i think that has been proven exactly by this unfortunate beat down. We need to ask ourselves, where were we when this was happening? Fishing?

joey - I'm pretty sure you and I need to hang out and go fishing sometime. You are dead on.

Thats good to a point but if its a place I really dont care about I wont go back and I will give it bad publicity. No reason to go back just to make a point. If the place thinks it doing good when the only gauge they use is money that tells me they are not looking out for the best intrest of the patron.

If you don't go back because you don't like amusment parks, then don't go. If your not going back because you would rather complain and make bad publicity, then you ARE a whiney liberal...

That is un-called for! There is a no name calling policy for these forums, and that, I do believe that crosses the line.

But on the other hand if we stay away from places we want to go because of creeps like that, we are knuckling under to terrorism and I personally believe we need to stand up to it. If we let them do that, we are letting them set the rules and they win. We won't submit to terrorism from abroad, so there is absolutely no reason to submit to it here.

Why, do you see "whiney liberal" as an insult? Do you feel that being called "liberal" is an insult, or is the "whiney" part the insult? Perhaps you should stay on topic when the topic is as serious as violence in an amusement park.

I'm SO sorry if liberals are easily offended.

I don't think Upnorth is a liberal, and I don't think staying away has anything to do with being a liberal. I would go, but would I want to take my child and risk her having this happen? I do agree with your first post, we need to stand up to these dang thugs.

"joeyquicksand" I didnt say nothing about not standing up to theses thugs.
Yes, there are more fronts to this problem than just standing up to them, you can do more than just standing up to them. Why wait till you are confronted, taking an aggressive approach to a problem IMO is better than sitting on your but and waiting for it to happen to you again. If you dont like the boycott approach use a different method. THE establishment has to know their policies have to change otherwise business as usual.
you get bad service at store your still gonna go to that store rather than find one that treats you better. If you keep going to that store you are enforcing and perpetuating the problem. Should I make it simmpler. You go to a restaraunt every time you eat there the food is bad do you keep going back.

And I just stood up to a form of thug and that is you "joeyquicksand"